VZCZCXRO0583
RR RUEHIK
DE RUEHMD #1004/01 2880905
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 150905Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1328
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 4149
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEILB/NCTC WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 001004 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
EUR/WE FOR ALEX MCKNIGHT AND STACIE ZERDECKI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV SP PINS
SUBJECT: SPAIN: BASQUE REGION WILL NOT CLOSE ITS NEW YORK 
OFFICE 
 
REF: A. MADRID 499 
     ¶B. 08 MADRID 1088 
 
MADRID 00001004  001.3 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Senior Basque officials within the Office 
of the Lehendakari (regional premier or U.S Governor 
equivalent) have indicated that - contrary to Spanish press 
reporting in early September - the regional government under 
new Socialist (PSE) Lehendakari Patxi Lopez (Ref A) will not 
be closing down all of its overseas "delegations" and 
specifically stressed that the Basque office in New York City 
will remain open.  These offices - not to be confused with 
the trade development offices run by the Sociedad Para la 
Promocion y Reconversion Industrial, a public society known 
as SPRI (Ref B) - have been  and remain controversial for 
their alleged role as de facto "Embassies" for the Basque 
Country.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Andoni Unzalu, Secretary General for Communications 
and a key Lopez political adviser, Guillermo Echenique, 
Secretary General for Foreign Relations, and Irune 
Aguirrezabal, Director of Foreign Relations, on September 9 
explained to POLOFF that the regional government would submit 
a report in mid-September evaluating the role and number of 
the offices abroad and indicated that some offices may be 
closed to achieve financial efficiencies during this time of 
economic crisis.  These officials - who prefer to call these 
offices "delegations" - stated that the role of the 
delegations will be revised to focus more on commerce and 
Basque cultural issues and that these offices will begin to 
work more closely with the Embassies in those countries. 
They also indicated that the Lopez Administration had decided 
that the names of the offices would be renamed as Delegations 
of the Basque Country, in which the Spanish "Pais Vasco" 
rather than the Basque-language "Euskadi" will be used to 
refer to the Basque Country.  Idoia Mendia, spokeswoman for 
the regional government, on September 10 told POLOFF that, 
under Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) rule (1980-2009), the 
delegations were challenging the authority of the Spanish 
central government. 
 
¶3. (SBU) These officials described New York City as "a 
fundamental market" and said that it, along with the Basque 
office in Brussels, would not be closed. (COMMENT:  Spain has 
both a Consular office and its Permanent Mission to the UN in 
New York City.  END COMMENT)  The New York office - which has 
a staff of three - currently is up and running and is 
planning an expo on Basque immigration to take place on Long 
Island in February, 2010.  The naming of a new director is 
pending and the formal inauguration of the delegation office 
in New York is planned for the first quarter of 2010. 
Aguirrezabal planned to visit the New York office in 
September 2009 while she was in the United States as part of 
the Department of State's International Visitor Leadership 
program. 
 
//DECIDEDLY MIXED REACTION FROM OTHER PARTIES// 
 
¶4. (SBU) The PNV, which remains the largest party in the 
regional parliament despite having lost power following the 
March 2009 regional election, categorically rules out 
supporting any reduction in the number of Basque offices 
abroad, which the party considers one of the "fundamental" 
points of its accomplishments during the last 20 years in 
office.  Inaki Goikeotxeta, the PNV's pointman of foreign 
policy issues, on September 8 asserted to POLOFF that these 
"delegations" emphasize cultural, sports and folkloric 
aspects of the Basque people and have "nothing to do with 
politics."  He argued that the Basque culture transcends 
politics and derided as a "a pure lie" any assertion that the 
overseas offices were used to proselytize separatist policies 
to the Basque diaspora. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Members of the conservative Popular Party's (PP) 
Basque wing - the de facto junior partner in the Basque 
regional government - blast the existence of Basque offices 
around the world as "ridiculous."  In a meeting with POLOFF 
on September 9, Anton Damborenea, President of the PP in the 
Basque province of Vizcaya, and Leopoldo Barreda, spokesman 
for the PP caucus in the regional parliament, asserted that 
the PNV opened these "Embassies" to gain publicity for the 
PNV's policy of seeking increased self-determination and to 
raise money in sympathetic countries for the PNV's policies. 
The PP argued that the existence of these Basque "embassies" 
conflicts with the activities and representation of Spanish 
embassies.  The PP officials further alleged that - an 
estimated annual cost of roughly USD $7 million - these 
 
MADRID 00001004  002.3 OF 002 
 
 
offices are "a waste of money."  The PP officials further 
derided the Lopez administration's interest in keeping these 
overseas offices open as an opportunity to reward political 
cronies with cushy "Ambassadorships" overseas at taxpayer 
expense. 
CHACON